At the start, Dakota Jones had planned a project titled “Where the Water Was”: a 260-mile run around the Great Salt Lake, to raise awareness of the lake’s rapid disappearance and to raise funds to protect it.
An injury to her foot prevents her from running the entire route herself. She then organises a five-day relay with her friends and supporters, “where the lake used to be”.
From 13 October over five days, Dakota Jones and 63 other participants carry a baton around the lake’s perimeter. The action helps raise more than $3,800 for the project.
The Great Salt Lake, located in the Great Basin west of Utah, is described as the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere. With no outlet to the ocean, the water evaporates, leaving behind a build-up of salts and minerals and a saline ecosystem, fragile.
The text links the lake’s disappearance to climate change and water management, with consequences for wildlife and local communities. As the lake is shallow, a drop in water level causes the shoreline to retreat sharply, exposing soils that release dust containing arsenic and other heavy metals.
